Rock Band 2 Guitar Revealed

With details on compatibility and third-party peripheral support.

By Gerry Block and Hilary Goldstein

Updated: 25 Oct 2011 6:24 am

Posted: 1 Jul 2008 12:04 am

IGN was recently fortunate enough to get a slew of new details on the upcoming Rock Band 2, including pictures of the sequel's improved guitar. Speaking with IGN's Hilary Goldstein, Rock Band 2's Lead Designer Dan Teasdale revealed that all the instruments from the original Rock Band will work with the follow-up. There may be reason to buy yet another boxed set however, as Teasdale notes that Harmonix has been working hard to improve the realism, reliability, and noise-pollution of each piece of equipment. Also interesting is Teasdale's mention of the fact that Harmonix will be working with third-party peripheral designers who wish to make Rock Band instruments.

IGN: Are any improvements being made to the instruments? And will we get wireless guitars for 360?

Teasdale: Definitely. At Harmonix, we have a real benefit to having our hardware team in the same offices as our game team, since we can work together to create an authentic band experience.

Rock Band 2's instruments will not disappoint. Like I mentioned before, our philosophy here is to innovate, then perfect. Along those lines, we've been able to take all of the feedback we've received to make quieter, more realistic, and more reliable instruments. We've also added some features for players to customize the experience that they want to have, but we'll be talking more about this soon. And yes, all of your Rock Band instruments will still work with Rock Band 2.

We're also actively welcoming new peripheral makers to make instruments for our game. Just like real instruments, we want players to be able to choose what instruments they use, and we'll be expanding the choice of players alongside Rock Band 2.